


pretty little gangster

by enbyofdionysus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: First Meetings, First Time, First Time Bottoming, Grief/Mourning, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Prostitution, Size Difference, Strangers, au with no supernatural and sally's dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 13:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8058118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyofdionysus/pseuds/enbyofdionysus
Summary: In his senior year of college, Percy finds himself unable to cover the rest of his tuition and decides to sell his virginity to the highest bidder. The highest bidder just so happens to be his best friend’s father.





	1. I'm gonna fuck your father

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note: when Percy mentions otters, he's talking about the body type when it comes to guys, not the animal.  
> Another note: Percy reflects on grief in this fic and on the fear of being possibly raped, so I want to give you guys a heads up. There's absolutely no rape in the fic, though.

“What if I sold my virginity?” Percy asked.

He was laying on the couch with his laptop on his thighs and had just finished reading a ridiculous article in which a girl had done just that, but had flown overseas to do it. The window was open next to him and the cool, early autumn breeze was making the hair on his arms stand up. A siren shrieked outside. Girls on a night out were laughing somewhere far below.

Jason turned to look at him from where he was eating a sub at the kitchen counter. “You mean what if you became a sex worker.”

“Yeah, but like. Only for the first time I have sex.”

Jason slowly chewed his sandwich before swallowing. “That would be a pretty awkward first time.”

Percy chewed at the cuticle of his thumbnail. “I thought about making a post on Hephaestus.”

Jason suddenly stopped. Set down his sandwich. And turned his entire body so he was facing Percy. Even with a smear of mustard on the side of his mouth and in a pair of ratty sweats, he looked attractive. “Wait,” he said and gestured pointedly with his hand. “Are you serious?”

Percy met his eyes.

He didn't really have much of an option at this point. Two months ago, Percy had taken his mom to the emergency room for what they had thought was a bad case of the flu. His mom's work, a candy shop called _Sweet on America_ , hadn't exactly provided paid sick leave and so Sally had been forced to work through her fever and chills for what Percy had thought had been two weeks. But two weeks, as it turned out, ended up being four weeks when Sally finally managed to be conscious enough to speak to her doctor. And then the flu had turned out to be pneumonia once _Percy_ had been able to speak to her doctor.

Pneumonia turned into Sepsis, which turned into Septic shock.

Percy had brought his mom into the hospital with the expectations of her being made well within a matter of days only for her to die there.

Now, two months later, Percy worked a part-time job in the mail room of a law firm to pay for his in-progress bachelor's degree. His best friend, Jason, had been kind enough to lend him his couch to sleep on to save money on room and board. But the problem was that Percy had only been able to pay for school through loans, loans which had been partially provided by his mom. Now that she had passed away, the use of Parent PLUS loans went away too, leaving Percy floundering for options for how to pay for his last semester at CHBU.

He needed at least ten grand, an amount that would be impossible to make in a month's time doing anything legal even if he worked for twenty dollars an hour. His school had suggested private loans, but Percy had no credit to sign it himself, no living relatives to volunteer to co-sign, and no willing friends. The thought of even asking Jason made his face warm with shame.

Which left him with this: the possibility of one-time prostitution.

“Percy,” Jason warned, his voice doing that fatherly thing it did when he was about to lecture you. “That kind of shit is dangerous.”

“I'll use a condom.”

“I meant you could be kidnapped, dumbass. Forced into human trafficking. You're not invincible, you know.”

Percy ran his fingers through his hair and leaned his head against the couch. “I'm not taking a five year break from school to save up enough money to finish one semester.”

“But you're willing to sleep with a stranger?”

“What's the difference between sleeping with a stranger for money and sleeping with a stranger you met at a club?”

“Mutual attraction,” Jason said.

“So I'll tell them to send me a picture with their offer.”

“Percy...”

Percy looked up at his friend.

Jason looked honestly worried, his eyebrows pinched together and his full bottom lip between his teeth. “Please be careful.”

Percy's heart stammered with the small nudge of support. “Of course, man,” he said. “Besides, how many offers do you even think I could get?”

**

He got 700 offers.

To be fair, the majority of them weren't serious. Many guys and some women offered under a thousand dollars, others said they would treat him right. One man in particular and made his hair raise.

“ _I would take care of you_ ,” Percy read to Jason over Chinese food a couple nights later. They were sitting on the floor eating over the coffee table among stacks of textbooks and partially edited papers. “An _d make your body feel good. I'm a take-charge kind of guy and would love to enjoy your sweet_ –”

“Please, stop,” Jason groaned.

“You know 'take-charge' basically means 'rapist', right?” Percy asked, both amused and disturbed at the same time.

“Have you read any that don't sound like they'll murder you?”

“There's a woman that offered five thousand if she could ride me.”

“Sounds decent.”

“But only if she could piss on me afterward.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

Percy laughed and picked up an udon noodle with his fingers while he scrolled through more offers with his left hand. After a couple more minutes of silence, save for the chewing of both boys, Percy made a sound.

Jason glanced up from an essay on _A Winter's Tale_. “What?”

“ _I hope this doesn't make me sound cocky_ ,” Percy said. “ _But if you chose me to be your first, I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. I'm a largely experienced man in his early fifties_ –”

Jason made a grossed-out sound, but Percy waved him off.

“– _and have yet to receive a bad review on Yelp from my one-night stands._ Oh, my god.” Percy laughed. “ _I am also successful in my work as well as the bedroom. For a night with you, I would be willing to put in an offer of_...”

“An offer of?” Jason asked.

Percy stared at the screen.

Then up at Jason.

“Twenty-five thousand.”

Jason stared back at him.

“Do you think it's legit?” Percy croaked.

“It can't be,” Jason said. “Not that you're not worth twenty-five thousand, but...”

Percy clicked on the post and began to type.

Jason frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Asking for a photo.”

Jason groaned. “God, you're actually doing this.”

“Shut up. I'm about to pay off my student loans by taking a dick in my ass for twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes that could be scarring.”

“Or amazing.”

“Or traumatizing.”

“Or great.”

**

A couple of hours later, when Jason was asleep in the other room and Percy was fucking around on Tumblr, he got a notification of an email on his phone. It was the photo-reply from the dude from Hephaestus and, when Percy clicked on it, he nearly creamed his pants.

To say that Percy had a type was an understatement. While he may have had a thing for blondes when it came to dating, when it came to porn Percy's history was choked full of what could only be described as 'daddies.' Older men with muscles and gray in their hair fucking twinks and otters on desks and against walls. In the depths of his bookmarks, labeled under 'usrhgvhidrg', was one particular video involving a large man holding a younger man nearly half his size against the mattress while his hips snapped snapped snapped against against the guy's ass. The guy on bottom was loud even with his face in a pillow and it always had Percy uncapping his lube with shaking hands.

The man's picture made him think of that video now.

He was big, Percy could see that, with wide shoulders and a broad chest. The photo had been taken by somebody else, but it was remarkably good although a little blurry. He was in the kitchen somewhere and was in the middle of placing chopped cucumbers into a large salad bowl. It must have been after work because he was dressed in a blue button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing strong hairy forearms and the barest of glimpses of an eagle tattoo. If Percy stared hard enough, which he did, he could even see the faint outline of one of the man's nipples through his shirt.

The man had said in his email reply that he was in his fifties. It showed. In the photo, he had been caught in the middle of a laugh, which let Percy see the crows feet perched against his eyes and the pleasant weathering of his face, like the mast of a well-loved boat. His hair was dark with bits of gray cut short and a matching beard trimmed close to his face hugged his cheeks and mouth.

Percy wanted to use his face for a chair.

He brought his thumb to his mouth and gnawed at the nail, debating sending a photo in reply, which the man had asked for beneath the attachment. But all of Percy's photos were too old or were too embarrassing. The last thing he wanted was to send this god of a person a photo of himself and Jason in a bar with crossed eyes and beer-foam mustaches.

He looked back at the lamp behind him and turned it on, then clicked on the selfie feature of his phone. He didn't look terrible, he supposed. He wished he didn't have the zit that was currently making its home in his left eyebrow, but he could make due. Percy messed up his hair a little bit until he liked it and then positioned the phone and tried to smile in a way that didn't make him hate his face.

After twenty different angles, Percy finally sent a photo of himself biting his lip. It looked a little suggestive, but then again he was selling his virginity here. The idea of it actually happening, of someone buying a night with him, made his stomach coil with anxiety. The man in the photo, whose name according to the reply, was Jove, was definitely larger than him and there was a chance that, if Percy changed his mind, the man would just... take what he wanted.

Fear gripped Percy in its icy hand.

But there was also a kind of excitement.

Because what if this _didn't_ go terribly wrong? What if Jove _was_ actually a decent guy and this all went remarkably well? What were the chances that Percy's first time was with someone out of his fantasies?

A reply to the photo came almost immediately and, feeling sick with too many contrasting emotions, Percy clicked on it.

 _Would it be alright to raise my offer?_ was all it said.

Percy didn't really understand. Why would Jove want to raise his offer? He had no other real bids that were higher than seven grand aside from a man who, to Percy's extreme unease, seemed entirely too interested in the fact that Percy was mixed. But then again, Jove didn't know that and Percy wasn't about to stop him from putting an extra $5k into his pocket if that's what Jove wanted to do.

 _Sure_ , Percy replied. _Should I be flattered? Hahaha. If it's livestock you're offering me now, then you automatically win. I always wanted a cow._

He was going for cheeky, but Jove's reply takes the smile completely off his face.

_Unfortunately, I don't have any cows, but I can tell you for sure you're worth all of the farms in the entire South. As for my offer, I would like to increase it to $75,000.00. If you have had any higher offers, I would be willing to put in more, but I also don't want to make you uncomfortable. You're a very beautiful man and I hope this doesn't come out sounding strange, but as you mentioned in your post you're doing this to pay for school. While I admire your efforts to achieve your education, I would very much like you to enjoy your first time. Not everyone gets to, but everyone deserves to. And you deserve that as well._

**

“He sounds creepy,” Jason said in the morning as they got ready for class.

“I think he sounds sweet,” Percy said. He slid his feet into his boots and adjusted his crotch so the fabric of his jeans didn't pinch. “I might do it with him.”

Jason gave him that worried look again. He was dressed impossibly well and his shoulder-to-waist ratio made Percy's dick jump just as much as it made his stomach jump in jealousy. “I really don't want you to– _God_ , Percy, please rethink this. There's too many risks. You could be _murdered_.”

Percy scowled. “I'm _aware_ of that, Jason. But there's not really any other option out there.”

“You don't need to get your degree right away. You could work. You said it yourself that there's plenty of jobs out there that you don't even need your degree for.”

“I'm not living on your couch for a decade working three minimum wage jobs to be able to afford _three months_ of _school_ to get a _better job_ , Jason!” Percy ran his fingers through his hair. “I _do_ think about things a lot before I bring them up to you in conversation, you know. I'm not letting you know about my ideas so you can deliberate on them and let me know you're decision – I'm letting you know about my ideas because we're friends and friends share their plans with each other. This is what I'm planning on doing because unlike you I didn't come from some rich ass background. I'm _poor_ , Jason. I'm poor, my parents are dead, and I have exhausted my options here. This is my choice. This is what I am doing. I am aware of the risks. I already talked to Frank. He'll be standing right outside the door.”

Frank was one of their closest friends and had decided, rather than getting a bachelors, to get an associates in criminal justice instead and was now an official officer of the NYPD.

Jason sagged a little under Percy's words. “I'm just trying to protect you.”

“I know,” Percy said. “And I appreciate it. But this is my choice. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Besides, the guy is really good looking.”

Jason rolled his eyes.

“No, I'm serious.” Percy took his phone from his pocket and slid his thumb across the screen. “Look.”

In hindsight, Percy wished he had shown Jason the photo of Jove on his computer so he could have used his phone to record Jason's face. Because the reaction was the best thing he had ever seen.

“ _Oh my god_.”

Percy frowned, looking down at his phone screen. Had he accidentally shown Jason a dick pic? But no, there was just the photo of Jove looking pleasantly happy to be making a salad and hopefully would soon be tossing Percy's. “What?”

He looked up to find Jason holding his hands over his face.

“ _What?_ ” Percy asked. Was Jove a rapist? Had Jason seen his face on the news?

“That's my _dad!_ ”

“What?”

Jason finally looked up at him, his face flushed and his eyes wide. “That's my fucking _father_!”

Percy stared at him. And then down at his phone. “This?”

“Yes!”

“This is your dad.”

Jason made a dying sound and leaned against the wall.

Percy stared at the photo. He could see the resemblance now. He and Jason had the same eyes, the same nose. “This is your father.”

“Percy!”

He couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face. “This is your _father_.”

“Oh my god, shut up! Jesus fucking Mary–”

“I'm going to fuck _your father_.”

Jason came at him with a series of light punches, making Percy hunch up against the wall while he laughed and laughed and laughed. “Hey,” he said once Jason had calmed down, although his face was still red. “At least now you don't have to worry about it being a stranger.”

 


	2. cologne like a social construct

If Percy had thought that Jove was hot in his photo, then he was even more attractive in person.

Jason had been kind enough, after a very awkward call Percy tried not to overhear, to supply Percy with his father's phone number and the two of them had set up a date to meet before doing anything else.

That date was today and Percy had walked into the Starbucks on 57th feeling jittery. He couldn't exactly ask Jason for his opinion on what to wear and so he had ended up in a pair of worn jeans, his 'Save the Sharks' shirt, and a leather jacket that was still new enough for him to feel strange wearing it. He was ten minutes early, but ordered his coffee anyway to warm himself and to ease his nerves (ironic, but it sometimes helped with his ADHD).

He chose a seat next to the window and scoped out the street.

An older woman hobbled along with her stick of a dog. A girl in a floral skirt talked into her cell phone while gesturing as wildly as she could with a coffee in her hand. Tourists with cameras jumped in and out of the hotel across the street.

Finally, at just five minutes to three, a brick wall of a man walked past the window and Percy felt his heart leap into his throat. All it took was the few seconds for Jove to walk around the corner and through the door and Percy was cursing his choice of wearing tight jeans.

Jove stopped the moment he entered the cafe and cast his silver gaze across the tables like a god surveying mortals, a human Zeus hunting for his Ganymede. Percy’s leather jacket was suddenly far too hot to wear. As if sensing his gaze, Jove’s eyes fell to his. And held them for several seconds. Before sliding down, down, and then up, up.

Jove smiled.

Percy exploded into flames.

In two measly strides, Jason’s father was looming above him like some model for baby boomer fashion. His cologne was like the entire social construct of masculinity all at once. It made Percy feel incredibly weak and incredibly hard.

“You must be Percy,” Jove said.

His _voice_.

“Holy shit,” Percy whispered.

“What?” asked Jove and he tilted his head like he misheard him.

“No,” Percy said. “I mean yes. I–” He stuck his hand out. Pulled it back. Stood up. Stuck his hand out again. His face was so hot he felt dizzy. “Hi. Yes, um. I’m Percy.”

Jove grasped his hand – warm and calloused – in a firm handshake. He smiled again. “I’m Jove.”

“Fuck me,” Percy croaked.

“What was that?”

“I said it’s nice to meet you.”

Jove’s eyes brightened, the sun breaking out through thunderclouds. “It’s nice to meet you as well. I have to say, the photo you sent doesn’t do you justice. You are,” he took a breath – a fucking _breath_ , “remarkably beautiful.”

Percy snorted and tore his eyes away before he fell into the clammy arms of death. “Yeah, okay.”

“I’m serious,” Jove said. His eyes sparked. “I just might pay you for a second night if that’s something that might interest you.”

 _You could use me as a mattress if that would interest you_ , Percy thought. Instead, he said, “We have to talk about the first night before anything else.”

“Of course.” Jove took off his jacket and placed it over the chair Percy hadn’t been sitting in. “Just let me some coffee before we begin.”

“Yeah, totally,” Percy said to Jove’s chest before he could stop himself.

He took a few calming breaths to clear his head once Jove left for the counter. He couldn’t let his attraction get the best of him; real life wasn’t a fantasy. What he jerked off to and what got him hard weren’t necessarily things that he wanted to do and weren’t necessarily things he was comfortable with. This whole meeting was about that, to establish what was on the table and what wasn’t. To be honest, Percy was extremely glad that Jove ended up being Jason’s dad. The idea of doing this with a stranger – with someone whose personality he hadn’t even received a glimpse of through stories of fishing trips, football games, and Christmas parties since he was fourteen – now that he was here meeting up with him made his stomach coil and coil and coil.

A coffee cup touched the table. Jove smiled as he slid into his chair. “Hello, again,” he said.

Percy’s stomach softened and he smiled back. “Hello.”

Jove took a sip of his coffee. He held Percy’s eyes as he did it and then continued to as he swallowed. “So,” he said.”

“So.”

“Is this weird for you?”

“Selling my body? Yeah, a little.”

Jove’s shoulders pulled up as he laughed, a sound that made the last of Percy’s anxiety sink into his feet. “I meant,” he said, grinning now. _God_. “Doing this with me. I have to admit, I never would have imagined you as the Percy in my son’s stories.”

“Yeah?” Percy asked and felt himself grin back. “What’d he lie about me?”

Jove laughed again. “Not much,” he said. He raised his coffee cup to his mouth. “Just that trouble tended to follow you despite your attempts at a restraining order.”

Percy tapped his fingers against his own coffee cup. “Sounds true enough.” He lifted the cup to his own mouth and sipped. “It’s not weird, by the way.”

Jove’s eyebrows went up.

“You being Jason’s dad. I prefer it, actually.”

“Daddy kink?”

“No. It just feels safer.”

“Ah.” Jove’s smile softened. “In that case, I’m glad you chose me.”

“Me too.” Percy chewed his lip. “So, um.”

“Yes.” Jove sat back in his chair. “This is on your terms. How would you like our night to play out?”

Percy’s leg jiggled and he pulled his hands from the table to clasp them in his lap. “Well,” he said, “normally, I guess? I mean. Nothing with like... ropes or anything. I– No bondage. Or, like, leather. Or, uh... p–” He glanced to his left at the next table and lowered his voice even further. “Pissing.”

Jove’s eyebrows had risen to his hairline. “Had a lot of offers?”

“There were a few,” Percy said honestly.

“Alright. Anything else?”

“I don’t like any degrading talk. Like, definitely no calling me a ‘slut’ or ‘whore’ or anything. No possessive talk. I’m not yours. I’m mine. Like, my ass and my mouth and my body and everything. It’s mine.”

“Absolutely.”

“Um. No... No oral. For me. Like, you can suck me off if that’s something you want to do. But for my first time, I don’t really want... It kind of freaks me out.”

“You’re scared of choking.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”

“And, um. If I say I don’t want to do anything anymore, then I don’t want to do anything anymore.”

“Absolutely.”

“If I say stop, that means stop.”

“Absolutely.”

“No safe word or anything, just ‘stop.’”

“Absolutely.”

Percy nodded once, affirmative.

“So,” Jove said and placed his hands on the table. “Maybe something like this. We shower together, if that were something you’d like. Then I take you to bed. Suck you off. Make you cum.” Percy’s face flushed. “Then finger you, maybe rim you if you’d like, until you were ready for me. And then, if it were still all right with you, I’d fuck you. Make you cum again. And then hold you afterward if you’re alright with that.”

Percy shifted in his seat and swallowed. “I’m,” he said, “yeah, I’m down with that.”

“With everything?”

“With everything,” Percy agreed.

Jove smiled. Percy’s heart slammed in his chest. “So what day would you like to do this on?”

“Would, uh, next Saturday work okay?” Percy asked. “I have class all this week and when I’m not at school, then I’m working.”

“Next Saturday works perfectly,” Jove said. “Any time in particular?”

“Maybe seven?”

“Seven it is. And the place?”

Percy chewed his lip. He slept on a couch and didn’t think Jason would appreciate him using his bed to have sex with his dad. But the idea of going to Jove’s house – Apartment? Condo? –made him nervous. “Would a hotel be okay?”

“It would,” Jove agreed. “I can pay for it outside of our deal. Any particular hotel?”

“I don’t know,” Percy said. He shrugged. “DoubleTree?”

“DoubleTree,” Jove said.

“I don’t _know_. The Marriott?”

“The _Marriott_.”

“Fine,” Percy scoffed, “you pick one, Mr. Warbucks.”

Jove laughed. Laughed and laughed. Finally, he said, “I actually own a room at the Four Seasons if you wouldn’t mind it.”

“You _own_ a _room_.”

“I do.”

“Can you _do_ that?”

“You can,” Jove said. “It’s the same as buying a house.”

“Jesus.”

“No, just money.”

Percy laughed. Then leaned back in his chair and took everything in. The coffee, Jove’s coffee, and Jove in front of him: a paralyzingly handsome man in a bland New York Starbucks in a bland gray sweater willing to sleep with, willing _to pay_ to sleep with, Percy. His tuition would be paid for. His debt would be paid for. And he would finally be able to say to the world that he had his sex card punched for the first time.

It was a lot.

But Jove’s eyes, in all of their thunder and all of their clouds, and Jove’s smile seemed to keep him upright.

“Next Saturday then,” Jove said in his Honey Bourbon voice. “At seven in the evening. At the Four Seasons hotel.”

“Okay,” Percy said.

Jove’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. He held out his hand again and Percy took it, an anchor for a ship drifting off to sea. “It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will probably be Saturday the 24th or Sunday the 25th! I just started a new job, so the weekends are my only free time!


	3. how bout that shower

Percy’s hands were shaking.

Part of it was from nervousness – he’d watched enough porn and had jerked off enough to know that if prep wasn’t done right and if the person on bottom wasn’t turned on enough then things might hurt. Another part of it was from anxiety – the thought of letting someone else touch him had always made his hair raise and his nerves edge. And yet another part was from excitement.

Percy had thought of Jove every night since their first meeting. He imagined the scratch of his beard on his neck as he pushed inside for the first time, how it would burn a bit going like it did when he took his favorite dildo, how it would bloom into something so good once it slid deeper, deeper. He imagined the weight of Jove pushing him down into the mattress; his calloused hands warm as they slid their way down his chest, his stomach.

Percy almost didn’t care that his checking account had a heavy $75,023.24 in its pocket. He almost didn’t care that he would be able to register for the next semester and get his bachelor’s degree within the four years he’d intended. He almost didn’t care that he would be able to pay off his student loans in one fell swoop and kick his credit score in the ass like a mother.

Because to be able to have Jove above him, to be able to have Jove inside of him, to be able to feel those thick fingers on his thighs and on his dick and those full lips on his lips and that chest on his chest and the V of his waist flush against Percy’s ass– It was almost laughable that Percy was getting paid for it.

“You doing okay?” Frank asked.

The two of them were heading down E 57th and Percy had run his fingers through his hair for what had to have been the tenth time since getting off the subway.

“Just nervous,” Percy said. Jason had told him to wear something comfortable, that it would help relax him – because even when Percy was fucking his father, Jason was a good friend. But Percy didn’t dare wear a pair of ratty sweats and flip-flops to the Four Seasons hotel. He wasn’t even sure if the doorman would have let him in. So instead he was in jeans again – still probably too casual – and the softest black sweater he could find. He tugged at its hem to keep from messing with his hair again.

Frank nudged him a little, offering one of his kind smiles. “That’s totally natural, man,” he said. “Especially in a situation like this.” He lowered his voice. “If he does anything, I’ll shoot him.”

Percy laughed and nudged him back. “I don’t think he will, but thanks.”

“Just call for me, hit the wall, or say ‘taco’ really loud in conversation and I’ll hear it.”

“Not ‘doughnut’?”

“Har har.” Frank nodded to the approaching lights of the hotel. “I mean it though. I got your back.”

“Thanks, man. I know this kind of goes against the law and everything, so I really appreciate you doing this for me.”

“Sex work shouldn’t even be illegal, so,” Frank said with a shrug. “Besides, the law of friendship comes before the law of the land.”

Percy nodded to the doorman once they got to the front of the hotel and Frank likewise tugged on his badge from the chain around his neck although it wasn’t really necessary. Once inside, Percy’s nerves got the best of him again and he ran his fingers through his hair once more.

The lobby smelled like rich people: a mix of cedar wood, expensive cologne, and something distinctly office-like. Percy and Frank shared a look – a silent ‘ready?’ – and then headed up the stares to Jove’s suite.

“Breathe through your nose,” Frank offered, reaching out and taking his hand. Percy squeezed it. “And out through your mouth. You got this.”

“Thanks.”

When they got to the hotel room door, Percy thought he might vomit. He knocked once, twice, and then waited. He met Frank’s gaze.

Frank nodded and took his station against the wall.

Percy nodded back.

The door opened.

Fear gripped Percy in its iron fist.

And then it vanished as soon as Jove smiled.

His massive, businessman form had been calmed by a gray cardigan over a white shirt that had been unbuttoned enough to let a patch of chest hair curl its way out like stubborn grass in a sidewalk crack. His hair, dark with gray flecked through its locks, had been recently tousled as if he too had been running his fingers through it.

“Percy,” he greeted.

“Oh,” Percy whispered.

“Sorry?”

“Um.” Percy swallowed, his skin suddenly much too hot, and glanced at Frank. “This is— Frank’s going to be out here. Just in case.”

 Jove’s partly cloudy eyes moved from Percy’s face to Frank’s.

Frank tilted his head back in a show of defiance that was so unlike Frank Percy almost laughed. “NYPD,” he said. Jove glanced at his badge. “You hurt him, I hurt you.”

Percy suddenly felt like a young girl caught between two patriarchs.

But Jove took it seriously. He shook Frank’s hand, assured him of Percy’s safety and then looked at Percy and assured Percy of his own safety before stepping aside to let him into the room.

And shutting the door.

** 

Percy was already hard.

The mere sight of Jove had yanked his anxiety out from under him and replaced it with a wall of lust so thick with humidity he couldn’t quite breathe. Luckily, Jove seemed to have a hold on his own lust and offered Percy a quick tour of the room, which Percy accepted for the sake of his sanity.

The room wasn’t too large, but it was incredibly beautiful with white sheets and white chairs. A small dining table had a vase on it filled with lilies and a bucket of ice with champagne chilling in its center. There was a desk covered in papers Percy guessed were related to Jove’s work and outside there was a small patio with candles on the ground illuminating a set of chairs. Percy gazed out at the New York City skyline as the sun settled down beneath the buildings, averting its eyes from what was about to happen.

“Do you like it?”

Percy turned to see Jove watching him. Percy had often heard that his own eyes were something fierce – people of color didn’t often have green eyes. But Jove’s were another kind of intense, a gray the color of Cajun hurricanes.

“It’s pretty,” Percy said.

“It is,” Jove agreed.

Percy licked his lips and let himself look at Jove the way he’d been trying not to and in turn he felt Jove look at him the way he’d been telling himself Jove hadn’t been looking at him. “So,” he said with a shaky breath.

“So,” Jove repeated. His voice was rough. “How about that shower?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not a lot, but I've had a lot going on! I'm sorry! The next update will be soon!!


	4. casually writing porn on your lunch break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for being patient with me!! I really really appreciate it. I hope this scene can tide you over until the next one! b

They didn't make it to the shower.

Granted, they tried. The plan had been, as they had discussed a week ago, to shower together so that the warm water would help Percy relax. But things never really did go according to plan, especially when it involved Percy.

They ended up against the wall outside the bathroom, the removal of Percy's shirt having broken the tension and set fire to the powder keg. Jove had been three steps away, with all his mature masculinity and hot daddness, and then he was suddenly there in front of him, bending down to place his mouth on Percy's mouth.

And Percy immediately lost his balance.

The kiss was far better than he had ever fantasized about and Jove hadn't been lying when he said he was experienced. Percy had kissed a few people before: Annabeth Chase, Rachel Dare, and Luke Castellan when he had been too drunk to realize kissing a jock was probably a bad idea (and it was).

But Jove could _do_ things.

He tugged at Percy's lower lip with his teeth, sucked on his tongue, and then did something with his own tongue that had Percy's fingers shaking as his hips jerked forward and his skin flushed hot and he gripped Jove's shirt and–

Jove pulled back. “Did you just–?”

Percy groaned. He buried his face into Jove's chest. “Sorry.”

Jove let out an amused puff of air. “Well,” he said, “I did say I would make you cum. ”

Percy leaned back against the wall and covered his face with his hands. He dragged his fingers to make the skin of his eyes tug down. “Would you believe me,”” he asked, “if I said I've been looking forward to this for over a week?” Percy could feel the warmth of his cum dribbling down his thigh. He grimaced.

Jove smiled. “I'm not exactly a bombshell,” he said and then slid his eyes over Percy as if Percy _were_ , “but I'm glad you were excited.”

“You have no idea,” Percy said with a self-conscious laugh.

Jove leaned down and kissed him again. This time, though, it was less heated, less devouring and softer, sweeter. When Jove pulled away, Percy chased after him.

“I suppose now,” Jove said, kissing his forehead, “that that shower might really be in order.”

“Unless you're into guys having cum all over their thighs,” Percy quipped.

Jove's eyes darkened. He let out a little breath.

Percy's skin was suddenly very hot. “Oh.”

Jove took a step back and gestured toward the bathroom. “After you,” he said. And as Percy passed through the doorway, undoing his belt, he wondered what it would be like – sometime in the future – if he asked Jove to be rough. Images of himself on the bed with his hands behind his back and Jove's cum dripping over his back, his hole, and his splayed thighs made him swallow hard.

But now wasn't the time for that.

Now was the time for an introduction to what Percy wanted, an introduction to Jove, an introduction to someone else's fingers curving into his ass, of someone else's hand running up his cock and squeezing back down, of someone else pressing their mouth to his and kissing with intention.

 _Sex 101 is a requirement for Sex 400_ , Percy thought with amusement.

And then his smile immediately slid from his face.

Because when he turned, Jove was naked.

Stark.

Naked.

Without the mask of a cardigan or blazer, Jove had the body of a wrestler or an Irish mob boss. Maybe both. Thick and firm, made not for show, but for fighting, for survival, for power. Percy could tell how strong he was without him even flexing. A nest of chest hair curled from his collar to his ribs where it tapered down to his stomach and fanned out again into his pubes. His cock matched his body – thick and heavy, hanging between his legs like either the greatest sex toy of all time or a murder weapon.

That was going to be inside of him, Percy thought.

_That._

Percy had grown hard again.

He quickly turned on the water and waited until it burned his hand to shift the nozzle to the right. The shower spluttered to life. Percy turned, meaning to take off the rest of his clothes, when Jove was suddenly _there._ Percy, once again, settled back against the wall, the only other optional place.

“We gotta stop meeting like this,” he said with a grin.

And then swallowed when Jove crowded him.

His thick fingers hooked into Percy's belt loops. “Let me help you with these.”

“Oh, fuck.”

Jove tugged at his jeans and then sank down, down. Percy's breath hitched at the sight of him on his knees and as his cock slid up, half-hard, from his briefs. Jove smiled up at him, a rattlesnake's warning, and then came forward, forward.

He pushed Percy's cock to the side with his hand, his lips leaving a searing, scratchy kiss along the base before dipping lower, lower to the inside of Percy's thighs where–

Percy _groaned_.

His head fell back against the wall.

Jove smirked, positively fucking evil, and cleaned the cum from Percy's thighs with the flat of his tongue.

Percy couldn't even _look_.

A single hot breath ghosted over the head of Percy's cock, And then, before he could even catch his breath, Jove engulfed him in the wet heat of his mouth. The sound Percy made was almost humiliatingly high-pitched, but he couldn't really give much of a fuck. Because he had heard that blow-jobs were good, but it was almost _too_ good and suddenly every face in porn on the receiving end of oral sex made sense. Jove had to hold him up with a firm hand on his hip.

“Fuck,” Percy whispered.

Jove looked up at him.

He groaned. “ _Fuck._ ”

Jove slid him from his mouth, the drag of his tongue along the underside of his cock making Percy's hips twitch. Jove placed a soft kiss on the tip of his cock before standing, his eyes absolutely wicked. “Should be warm by now.”

Percy blinked, too dazed to function. “What?”

Jove stretched his arm across the space between them to feel the water from behind the curtain. “The shower,” he said. He flicked Percy with the droplets on his hand.

Percy jerked in surprise. “Fucker,” he spat, although he was grinning.

Jove winked and pulled back the curtain just enough and nodded his head toward it. “After you,” he said.

 


	5. I need noise

“Have you ever used any toys?” Jove asked.

Percy glanced up from his phone where he was texting Frank. Their hotel room had looked pretty before, but now that the sun had set it looked far more inviting. The candles along the balcony flickered in the early autumn wind like pucks and if Percy squinted he could pretend they were somewhere in the countryside.

A siren blared.

“A few,” Percy answered. He was sitting on the bed, towel discarded on the floor, and was trying to decide whether he should towel dry his hair and let Jove see it in all its frizzy glory or to let it air dry. “Why?”

Jove was pouring himself a glass of champagne with only his towel around his waist. Even after seeing him naked in the shower, Percy still stared. Except, now, he felt less voyeuristic and more like he was _allowed_ to, like he had paid 75 grand to have this rather than Jove. It was an awful lot like a security guard letting him touch a statue of Zeus at The Met.

Jove said, “Fingering isn't usually enough for a beginner,” and looked up at him. “I brought some plugs just in case. I wasn't sure–”

“Oh,” Percy said, “yeah. I've used dildos before.” He shrugged. “My usual prep should be okay.”

Jove sipped from his glass and came closer, closer until Percy had to look up at him. “And how do you prep yourself?” he asked. The question had been an inquisitive one, but the way Jove held his eyes as he sipped his champagne – the same way he had sipped from his coffee a week ago – made Percy's skin flush hot.

 _Shit_ , he thought.

Percy said, “You know,” and then cleared his throat. “The, uh. Usual stuff.”

“Would you mind showing me?” Jove asked. Begged.

Percy let out an embarrassed laugh and slid his tongue over the back of his teeth in thought. “Well,” he said. He met Jove’s eyes again. Percy may not have actually paid Jove to sleep with him, but Jove had said that Percy deserved to enjoy his first time. Percy planned to. “Actually, I would.” He brought his thumbnail to his mouth and spread his legs a little wider so he was taking up more room on the bed. “But,” he added, “I wouldn’t mind instructing you.”

Something like desire flickered across Jove’s face. “If that’s what you want.”

It was.

Percy stood and took Jove’s wine glass from his hand and placed it on the desk without a coaster. “Sit back,” he said.

Jove sat.

Percy found lube by the nightstand and returned to the bed, climbing up, up until he came to Jove and then climbed more until he was sitting in his lap. Jove looked surprised, but no less pleased by the turn of events. “Hi,” Percy said, because it felt necessary.

“Hi,” Jove replied. He smiled.

Percy took one of his hands and his heart kicked up at the warmth of it, of the smooth callouses, the size of his fingers. “So,” he said. He pressed the lube into Jove’s hand.

“So,” Jove said. He squeezed a good amount of lube into his palm and slid it between his fingers.

“I usually just rub at first,” Percy said. He felt a little weird saying it out loud. “And, like, add pressure. And then a finger. And then another finger.”

“How many can you take?” Jove asked, his voice rough.

“Mine or yours?”

“I’ll know how many of mine,” Jove said, smiling.

“Jesus.”

“I meant yours.”

“Like, three?”

Jove leaned forward and caught Percy by surprise with a kiss. “Then three it’ll be.”

“ _Jesus_.”

Percy returned the kiss this time, his fingers sliding up into Jove’s hair for leverage when Jove shifted and he slid further down into his lap. His own cock fell against the soft hair of Jove’s abs, smearing them in pre-cum while Jove’s cock slid, half-hard, over Percy’s balls and behind them. The heat of it made Percy shudder, but it was the sensation of Jove’s fingers following after it, that brief moment when Jove’s hand between his cheeks was a brand new sensation, that awakened and answered almost every sexual fantasy Percy had ever had.

“Like this?” Jove asked. His breath ghosted over Percy’s ear. His index finger found Percy’s hole and it slid over, over, and over it.

“Yeah,” Percy groaned. “Just like that.”

“God, you’re gorgeous.”

Percy snorted, caught off guard, but before he could answer Jove had found his lips again. Percy had never really considered kissing to be addicting, but now he was starting to reconsider. Jove’s beard scratched along his cheeks and chin. His teeth tugged at his lower lip, drawing him closer and then drowning him with just the tip of his tongue. By the time Jove had slid an actual finger inside, Percy had barely noticed he was so breathless.

“Fuck,” he sighed.

“Okay?” Jove asked and oh, his finger hooked and–

“ _Yeah_.” Percy leaned his head back to enjoy the sensation, his hand leaving the curl of Jove’s beard for the curl of his own hair. So this was what it was to be hands free. “God.”

There was the distinct sound of laughing and Percy peaked at Jove to glare, but found him instead with a fond look on his face. Percy’s heart tripped over itself.

Shit.

“I wish I enjoyed anal as much as you,” Jove said, smiling.

“You’ve bottomed?”

Jove nodded. His finger slid out of Percy’s hole and over the rim, circled, circled, circled, and then pushed back in again. Percy’s cock twitched hard. “But only a couple of times. I never really found the right person to do this with.”

Percy’s imagination was suddenly overcome with the idea of Jove on his stomach, his fists in the sheets while someone drew his hips up and pressed their cock in, in– “Do you think you’d ever try again?”

“If it might somehow feel as good as you make it look,” Jove laughed and there was a second finger, oh, there was a second–

Percy dragged his nails fiercely over his thighs to keep from cumming, his breath coming out in a sharp gust.

“ _Mm_ ,” Jove said.

Percy looked up at him again. He licked his lips. “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe more lube.”

           

**

 

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

They had switched positions and Percy was laying now with his face in a pillow, his head turned to the side to breathe, and his hips held up by a stack of pillows so soft beneath him he wasn’t sure what he was looking forward to more: Jove’s cock in his ass or going to bed.

Jove had managed to press three fingers into him as he had said he would, the stretch around their thickness so good Percy had momentarily forgotten how to speak, and even now as they were about to take it to another level Percy didn’t want him to stop. Yet his thighs were spread wide, but not wide enough and Jove’s hand was pushing deep, but not deep enough.

“Yeah,” Percy said. Whined.

He turned his head more so he could see Jove as he pulled his fingers out carefully and wiped them across the sheet. The bottle of lube clicked and Percy shuddered as the liquid poured directly over his hole and down, down over his taint, his balls.

“Sorry,” Jove said. There was the distinct sound of a hand sliding over a cock and Percy swallowed hard. Jove’s tip pressed against his ass, too hot and too wide to be a finger, to be three fingers. “Take a deep breath.”

“Wait,” Percy said. “Wait, wait.”

Jove waited, his clean hand sliding gently down Percy’s back. “You okay?”

Percy took a breath. Then another. And another.

Nose.

Mouth.

Nose.

Mouth.

“Okay,” Percy said. He gripped the pillow.

Jove pressed in.

Percy forced himself to relax, concentrating on pushing back instead of away. It was just like his toys, he rationalized, but softer, thicker.

“Oh,” Percy whispered. Jove’s cock pushed past that one inch of hell and had made it, finally, into the good zone. But unlike Percy’s toys that stopped four inches in, Jove’s continued for an extra two, going deeper, _deeper_. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

Jove paused, his hands squeezing Percy’s hips in a way that should have been comforting, but instead made Percy press his face into the pillow and _moan_. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Jesus– _fuck_.”

Jove’s cock pushed in just a little more before his hips rested flush against Percy’s ass. His hands continued to stroke along Percy’s back, his hips, but Percy had already adjusted enough to not be in pain. Now, it was just all about not cumming too soon and his thighs were already quivering from the effort. God, he wasn’t going to be able to let Jove go after this.

Jason was just going to have to start calling him ‘daddy’.

“So freaking tight,” Jove muttered to himself and oh, oh shit, shit, shit–

Percy bit his arm, begging, begging, begging.

He didn’t cum.

He breathed carefully through his nose, out his mouth.

Nose.

Mouth.

Nose.

“Jesus,” Percy said on a shaky exhale.

“Is it alright to move?”

Percy pushed himself up onto his elbows, his fingers burying themselves in his hair to hold on. His other hand gripped the bed sheet. “Please.”

Jove squeezed his hip again, anchoring him, anchoring himself, and then pulled out, out –Percy _groaned_ – and then in, in, inininin–

“Yes,” Percy whispered, reaching back, back. He grabbed Jove’s hand, pulled it forward, laced their fingers. “Fuck me.”

Jove pulled out, pushed in. Slow, steady, hot, heavy. Not enough.

Jason had told him once that he sometimes he went too far too fast with his choices, that his decisions were impulsive and too passionate. Percy hadn’t really agreed at the time, but he did now as he pressed his hips back, back, and grunted “ _harder_ ” through his teeth.

And maybe Jason was right. Maybe Percy was too impulsive and he ended up changing his major a couple of times because he threw everything he had into small baskets with visions of grandeur and in his head. But Percy was also right. Because sure, this was his first time and technically no one’s ass was actually made for someone’s cock and so he should go slow and sweet and enjoy this because there was a chance that if he didn’t then he would get hurt, but Percy had also been fucking himself on a dildo since he was thirteen.

So maybe he was caught up in the moment and shouldn’t have told Jove to go harder so soon, shouldn’t have shoved his ass back against his hips with each thrust, shouldn’t have brought Jove’s other hand to his hair to make him pull, pull, because Sex 101 was a requirement for Sex 400–

But sometimes getting caught up in the moment led to the greatest things because Percy was in fucking heaven and his nerves were screaming and so was he and this was the best decision he had ever made fuck, fuck, fuck–

“ _Fuck!_ _Fuck!_ ” Percy yelled, letting go of Jove’s hand to grab the headboard, the sheets, anything, anything, because heat was pooling fast into the low of his belly, his balls were pulling close, close, and then everything crashed down at once.

Jove fucked him through his orgasm, grunting as Percy strangled his name in a moan. Percy’s hips bucked against the pillows, then back onto Jove’s cock, then the pillows, Jove’s cock. His nerves lit up with afterglow and he panted hard even as Jove continued to thrust hard, hard, hard, _harder_ –

Percy swore, holding the pillow under his face for dear life, and then Jove’s hand left his hair and joined the other on his hip, holding him still, still and then–

“ _Percy_ ,” Jove groaned through his teeth.

Percy shuddered, then shuddered again when Jove carefully pulled out. Cum that was definitely not Percy’s dribbled down between his legs, making him grimace.

“Give me a moment,” Jove said and suddenly he was beside him on the pillows, his hair tousled his gray eyes hazy. “And I’ll clean you up. I just need to–“

“Yeah,” Percy agreed.

He reached out again for Jove’s hand and this time Jove met him halfway, squeezing their palms together: white and brown, rough and soft. Something lit itself in Percy’s chest, in his veins, and for a terrifying moment, just before he closed his eyes, just before his breathing settled, he recognized what it was.

“Shit,” Percy whispered.

“Hm?” Jove asked.

But Percy was already falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Percy: [Grinch voice] I'm... feeling!
> 
> Tbh I'm starting to think my writing style is just repeating words good god  
> Gertrude Stein used repetitive words to make them lose their meaning, but tbh I'm pretty sure I use them to add like??? emphasis?? And rhythm? Idk what is even writing


	6. catch and release

Without the comforter or Jove’s arm around his naked waist, Percy felt strangely cold looking out at the city; the city looked back, always awake and always watching with its unsympathetic eyes. The early morning light had cast the hotel room in its gray haze. Percy pulled his sweater on over his head and tried not to glance at Jove while he looked for his jeans.

He had already looked once. Jove was still sleeping – a Greek god on his throne – and Percy had nearly drowned in his desire to stay. He had woken to the unsettling feeling of being comfortable: the cum had been cleaned from his ass and stomach, a blanket that must have been made with the feathers of cherubs had been placed over him, and an arm with an eagle tattoo had encircled him securely and pulled him back against a firm warm body.

But it didn’t matter that Percy had wanted something just like this, had imagined it after he got himself off to porn that was too rough.

It didn’t matter that Percy wanted to learn more about Jove, wanted to make those crows feet appear on the sides of his eyes.

It didn’t matter that Jove looked at him like he was the moon and stars.

It didn’t matter that Percy’s heart had been going a mile a minute ever since Jove had walked into the coffee shop to meet, that he wanted to be that person to top Jove, that letting Jove touch his hair in the middle of the night had felt almost as intimate as letting him finger him.

Because Jove was still Jason’s father.

And Jason was still Percy’s friend.

He slipped from the room without a sound.

** 

“Hey.”

Percy jerked at the soft voice once he shut the door and turned to see Frank sitting against the wall beside him. He had forgotten Frank had been on guard.

Frank raised a cup tray of two coffees and a bag. “Hazel brought these a little bit ago,” he said. “Wasn’t sure when you would be up.”

Percy gratefully took the tray and held out a hand to help him up. “How’d you know I wouldn’t be staying?”

“No offense,” Frank said. “But one of your biggest weaknesses is personal loyalty.”

They walked down the hallway in silence. Percy peeled back the drinking part of his coffee lid and the drink splashed him when his steps were too heavy on the stairs. He licked the drops off his hand before sipping from the cup.

It was fantastic.

Cold, but fantastic.

His coffee order exactly.

“Frank,” Percy said.

Frank looked up at him from the bottom step, his teeth already half-buried in the glaze of a doughnut. When he saw Percy’s face, he quickly swallowed. “Ah, geez,” he said. “Man.”

Percy fell against him a second later, his head on his shoulder.

Frank clapped a hand on his back and squeezed. “You really like him.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No.”

“Do you wanna talk to Jason about it?”

“Hell no.” Percy lifted his head and ran his fingers through his hair and then under his eyes. “He’d never speak to me again.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Would you talk to me if I fucked your dad and wanted to date him?”

“I didn’t even want to visit my dad on Sundays, so you can go right ahead.”

Percy laughed, a wet sound, and Frank pulled him close again, squeezing his shoulder.

“Come on,” said Frank. “Let’s go eat these in Central Park. Clear your head.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

“No,” Percy said, “I mean it. Thanks, Frank.”

Frank smiled. “Any time, Percy. _Nemo resideo_ , right?”

Percy smiled back. “Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's super short! The next chapter will be the last one!
> 
> Thank you guys so much for sticking with me!


	7. my guy my dude

Four Months Later

* * *

“Jason,” said Percy. “My guy. My dude.”

Jason looked up from the mirror where he was trying to correctly knot his tie.

“Does the tassel go on the right side?” Percy asked. He pushed another bobby pin into his hair to keep his cap still. “Or the left side?” It was too early to be awake and the two of them were getting dressed for graduation like zombies. The sky was a dull blue; even the sun had lost its sense of effort to lumber across the side of their apartment building. Percy's shirt was still unbuttoned, his belt half-on. Jason had redone his tie at least seven times.

Jason squinted in thought. “The right,” he finally answered, making a gesture of moving an invisible tassel from the right to the left of his head.

Percy copied the movement with his actual tassel and then the two of them continued to dress in silence. Only when Jason had successfully knotted his tie did they speak and it was Jason asking if he should wear glasses or contacts.

“How long can you wear your contacts before your eyes get irritated?” Percy asked. “You're going out for lunch with your family, right?”

Jason made a sound of assent. He then proceeded on a glasses scavenger hunt for several minutes until Percy pointed out that he was already wearing them. “Do you want to come with us?” Jason asked, adjusting the lenses in embarrassment.

Percy’s laughed with something between disbelief and hilarity.

Understanding dawned on Jason’s face a second too late. “Oh, Jesus. I’m sorry. I just meant– I don’t want you to be alone.”

“We have our friend thing tonight,” Percy said with a shrug. “To be honest, I’ll probably just come back here and sleep until then.”

“Right? But you’re sure you don’t want to come. I mean, my dad’s”– Jason’s face turned a shade darker “–kind of into polyamory or whatever, so it’s not like you’d be a secret mistress or anything. You can hang out with us.”

Percy’s interest had piqued. “What do you mean kind of into polyamory?”

“He has a boyfriend? Gannon. Who also kind of dates my mom.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re cool with that?”

“I mean, it’s his life or whatever. And they don’t fight as often now. My parents, I mean.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think, though, that I’m gonna–“

“Go?”

“-go. Go, yeah. I mean. I didn’t... I know you don’t really wanna know anything–”

“Yeah, please don’t.”

“Okay.”

Jason nodded. They made their finishing touches: fixing their caps, helping each other figure out how to wear the hood of their gowns without looking ridiculous, shoving a series of granola bars into their mouths until they felt like puking, and Jason taking a quick puff of his inhaler so he didn’t have to worry about carrying it on stage with him.

Finally, as Jason grabbed for his wallet on the way out, he made a sound. “Oh,” he said and then pressed a small box into Percy’s palm. “My dad wanted me to give this to you. I hope it’s not awkward or anything. I don’t know how you feel about it.”

Percy blinked down at the box, his emotions doing a strange mix of things. He felt both annoyed and overwhelmingly smitten. He tried not to let it show on his face. “Thank you,” Percy said. “I mean, tell him I said thank you.”

“Sure.”

They left the apartment and headed down the six flights of stairs since the elevator had stopped working earlier that week. Percy’s fingers toyed with the small gold ribbon on the box, which was wrapped around shiny blue wrapping paper. He felt shy about opening it behind Jason, but Jason was being respectful enough not to look.

They stopped outside onto the street. The smell of gasoline and fried food crawled under Percy's nostrils, but the gift distracted him.

The part of Percy’s brain that was hyper-romantic hoped it was a ring, but he knew that would be weird for someone he had only just met and had only slept with once. Still, when the gift box turned out to be black velvet, his heart stammered.

It was a watch.

Percy’s thumb slid over the face of it serenely. It was bright silver, certainly more than he could ever afford, and when he took it out of the box he felt an etching in the metal on the back. He turned it over.

 _May you be anchored in all the storms you face_.

Fuck.

 _Fuck_.

“Are you okay?”

Percy looked up at Jason who was now watching him with a frown. Percy hadn’t realized he’d sworn out loud. _No_ , he wanted to say. _No, I’m not_. But instead what came out was, “I need to date your dad.”

The homeless woman passing them on the street who swore foully as she waddled by gave a more dramatic reaction to Percy’s words than Jason had. Percy had been expecting the same flailing as when Jason had found out Jove would be paying him for his virginity, had been expecting their friendship to go up in flames, had been expecting to be thrown into oncoming traffic or at least into a tourist’s photo with the street performers and forced to pay them $10.

What he wasn’t expecting was Jason’s game face before a simple, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “Okay.”

“No ‘fuck you, how could you do this to me’?”

“You’ve done a lot worse, honestly. And so has my dad. Besides, I figured something had happened – you’ve been kind of depressing lately.”

Percy chewed his lip and looked down at the watch. “So I can–? You’re fine if I ask him out?”

“Me saying ‘yeah’ isn’t a guarantee that he’ll say yes.”

Percy had already taken out his cell-phone, his thumb shakily finding Jove’s contact. “Okay.”

“And he can be kind of a douche sometimes, just so you know,” Jason added.

“Okay.”

“And doesn’t like peanut butter.”

“Okay.”

“Or the Mets.”

“Oka– Wait.”

“Too late, you already dialed.”

“ _Jason_ –”

“Hello?”

Percy’s voice died in his throat at the sound of Jove’s deep bass in his ear.

Jason’s eyebrows rose.

“Um,” Percy squeaked, then swore when he almost stepped back into a bicyclist. “Hi– Uh. Hi, this is Percy.” He suddenly remembered caller ID and immediately grimaced. “Obviously. Uh–”

“It’s good to hear from you,” Jove said, all grace and ease. Percy could hear his smile; he wished he could see it. “It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, I– I’m– Actually, you know what? I really want to apologize to you.” He closed his eyes. “It was a really shitty thing to leave you like that and it isn’t really forgivable. But I was hoping you would give me a chance to apologize in person and explain. I’m not the greatest on phones and you deserve an in-person apology. And–”

“Percy, you can slow down,” Jove said. There was the sound of a small scuffle of fabric. “I’m not torn up about you leaving.”

Percy blinked. “You’re not?”

“I’m a big boy,” said Jove. “I can handle myself. Did you enjoy the gift?”

Percy flushed. “I did. Do. Thank you. A lot.”

“You’re welcome. Today is a big day for you. Jason told me about your mom; I know she’d be proud.”

“Thank you,” Percy whispered.

“As for your apology: perhaps you can finish it over wine tomorrow night. Say ‘eight’?”

Percy swallowed.

He looked up at Jason.

Jason shrugged.

“Sounds like a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!


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